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Published: July 28th 2008
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Hello, everybody. We made it!! After taking off an hour late (about 45 min of which was sitting in the sweltering heat on the tarmac......), we had a relatively good flight. No bad turbulance, but a kind of mild shimy (sp?) which after a while, you didn´t notice until suddenly it became smooth. Anyway, we landed safely to the teeny weeny Quito airport and had a few tense moments as we didn´t see Sharon´s name on any of the signs (our hotel was arranging pick up). And Sharon didn´t have the number to the hotel. I started to dig through my bags for it when she spotted it from a far. It looked like the printer was running out of ink - I have no idea how she saw it.
First impressions (trying hard not to compare to Cusco but...): The "new" town looks like Lima and "new" Cusco. Driving through the streets at night was like a flash back to Peru. However, NO stray dogs. The taxis here do seem to use their horns, but not to the same degree as in Peru who seem to have developed an entire "horn" language. The "old" or colonial town of Quito has
beautiful architecture, some narrow one lane streets (although I think the sidewalks maybe slightly wider - at least I haven´t felt as if I´ll get kneecapped by a taxi if I turn sideways...), plazas, etc, but I don´t think it is nearly as attractive as colonial Cusco. However, a plus is that the taxis all seem to be "normal" sized sedans. Yea! Although I know there are plenty of touristas here, I haven´t noticed them out on the streets much.
Anyway, our Hotel Real Audiencia is nice enough, beds are okay, decent pillow (one per bed), and most importantly - good hot water and a bonus of good water pressure, too! I had a hard time getting to sleep for several reasons: city traffic (including the horns, as well as whistles from la policia I assume), the bells of the local Cathedral Santo Domingo clanging the quater hour, and Sharon´s mild snores. But, finally I managed.
Breakfast on top of the hotel was a slightly disappointing set menu of huevos revoltas (scrambled eggs), toast (which we had to toast ourselves in a 2 slice toaster.....um, excuse me, but the line forms that way), marmalade (which was excellent), teeny weeny bananas
(very good), and pineapple juice. It was okay. But the view was certainly nice.
Today the plan was to have no plan and just wander around and get familiar with the area. While wandering, the sound of a brass band drew us on to the Plaza Grande (previously called Plaza de la Independencia) where some sort of ceremony was taking place at the base of what we later learned was Quito´s statue of liberty. Apparently this ceremony is performed every monday morning! The big celebration for Ecuador´s independence is next week while we are in the Galapagos. Anyway it was brief and once over we broke out the guide book to orient ourselves. At which point, Jorge, our intrepid tour guide approached us and asked if we would like a walking tour. He spoke every good English, and was just cute as a bug, so we said sure. He was funny, very insistant that we photograph every plaque and fresco that he though was important.
We started with the Centro Cultural Metropolitano which used to house 3 universities which were merged over time, but now houses a public library and kindergarten among other things. We took a brief turn through
a 500 year old house where they still perform operas on the tiny stage in the teeny courtyard and the floor is decorated with cow vertebrae between the stones (you heard me right - step on a crack, break the cow´s back......and this wasn´t the only floor decorated this way....). Next was the Plaza San Francisco - according to Jorge it is the largest in Quito. And it was large, but completely paved/cobblestoned with a small fountain off to one side and fenced off. Not at all what I would have expected, not the pretty green areas that I´ve become used to. And to be honest, none of the plazas that I´ve seen so far can compare to Cusco (there I go again.....). Anyway, our whirlwind tour ended at a small shop (I shoud have known) where Jorge helped his non-english speaking friend sell us some goods (Real Panana hats made in Ecuador). And then he got $50 out of us for the tour (he didn´t name a price for the service before hand, even when we asked......). Ah well, it did get us around some areas we probably wouldn´t have ventured into....and he took us to a place to
eat as well.
Lunch was fun. Having read about it in the lonely planet, I chose sopa marinera - a soup loaded with see food - shrimp, mussels, some other shellfish, something that I think was conch, the ubiquitous potato, and the piece de resistance a whole crab sitting on top. We had to ask the waitress how to eat it - the legs you crack with the mallet and then squeeze these tiny green limons on the meat - it was yummy. Then she showed me how to eat the cabesa (sp - head). The top just peeled off - then you scoop out the mal part (not sure WHAT that part was), then scrape the inside of the shell for what we think is the alimentary tract, squeeze of tiny lemon and add some picante sauce (kina like the onion and picante in Chuquito) and eat up. It looked disgusting, but really was very tasty (mom and dad - can you believe I´m eating this stuff? No grilled cheese here 😊.
So now we are back the hotel to drop off purchases and take a taxi to the Libri Mundi, so Sharon can buy some books in Spanish
for her amigo back home.
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Mom and Dad
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Great pictures
Amy, Sounds like you are having a great time. The soup looks delicious!